You don't have to wait or deal with her company. That is what you pay for insurance for. Call your agent and have them take care of you, they will subrogate the claim costs to the other company. Just being involved in the accident will still count the same way for underwriting whether you use your company or not. Generally you will get treated better by dealing with your coverage. (Yes, I am an insurance agent...)

My carrier and the girls carrier have all the information. I spent 3 hours yesterday making sure that everyone had every piece of info to move this along quickly.

I will let the girl's carrier handle everything, and so far, so good. They have been as responsive as any other claim I've ever been involved in. The rental is all figured out and I will getting that tomorrow.

I'm just waiting on the verdict on the 4R being totaled or not. I've done my homework, and I know what it's worth. If it is totaled, that's the amount that I will accept.

If it gets to this point and starts heading horribly south, that's when others who have very large vocabularies will get involved and then they can pay what I want plus the others' their normal operating fees.

But so far, so good. I'm giving her company the benefit of the doubt for now. Things are moving forward at a good pace at this point.

On the welding homefront, I came up with an excellent idea for the wheel vise for the low-buck lift. The worm gear idea from a large C-clamp from another inmate was an excellent idea, but I came up with an idea that may work better in my situation. If it works, I'll post up some pics in a few days.

I ran out of C25 gas and that was on yesterday's agenda, and the insurance mess took all that time away from me. I'm dead in the water on the steel until I get some gas.

I scanned through this thread and could not find anything about fume controls, are you using some sort of fume eliminator? If not, I would encourage you to stop welding inside until you do and have included this article for your consideration.

Is there anything special you are doing to prep the surface to get the coating off the Unistrut before welding it?

Are you using ER70-6 wire and what thickness?

I have a lot of scrap unistrut from work also and would like to make a welding cart.

Thanks,

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I've been grinding where I know I'm making a weld joint. Sometimes I need to make a weld where I can't get a grinder, and the coating doesn't seem to have any negative effect to the weld. Just make sure to have good ventilation or you will get "metal fume fever".

Yes, .035 ER70S-6 wire and I've been using an Argon/CO2 mix.

The strut welds very well. Post up some pics when you are finished so we can continue the "magic with unistrut" thread!

This thread kicks ass. I'm already looking into a 'Welding is Fun' class at the local community college...unfortunately it's full. It's a $75/1-day course that goes over the basics and allows one to get familiar.

I can see myself doing this. What kind of setup should I consider if I have a dedicated 220v in my garage?

This thread kicks ass. I'm already looking into a 'Welding is Fun' class at the local community college...unfortunately it's full. It's a $75/1-day course that goes over the basics and allows one to get familiar.

I can see myself doing this. What kind of setup should I consider if I have a dedicated 220v in my garage?

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Thanks!

Well, in my case, I've been using the heck out of my MIG. I just used my TIG for the first time last week.

I would say that a MIG is every bit as versatile as a TIG. It's definately easier to learn, that's for sure.

That class sounds very interesting. I would say to take it and make sure to ask lots of questions while you are there. That will also help you to decide on a welder. Keep your eyes on ebay and craigslist. Lots of nice used welders all the time. One sold in the fleamarket here not long ago, and it was a killer deal. I think it was a Millermatic 251 MIG for a grand. Man! What a smokin' deal.

Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, ESAB, lots of good brands. Buy something decent and if you find it's not your cup of tea, you should be able to get all your money back, especially when buying used.

I need to look into the local CC and see if I can audit/'sit in' on some welding classes, as another member suggested in the other welding thread here. Otherwise it's 7-9 credit hours @ 158.25 per for a MIG cert. That adds up, and it's a lot of time...but then a lot of time and repetition under the guidance of instructors is not bad, either.

I should really work on my friend who builds bike frames...he works with steel, aluminum, ti, and carbon...scandium too. His time is limited though...he's not getting rich doing it, but it sure seems to keep him busy and he turns out some beautiful stuff.

I finally got my vehicle situation back in order, so on with the show.

Here are pics of some lightweight projects I recently completed...

My Boy's CRF80 that we bought used was missing the chainguard. I took a piece of the 1/8" 3003 aluminum scrap I had left from making my KLR bashplate and went to work.

I cut the overall length and height with the plasma. Then I made the bend in my home made brake. Then I made a cut with the bandsaw down the bend about 3" from the front. Then I bent that piece inward to match the taper of the swingarm. I then used the spoolgun with .035 4043 wire and pure argon and migged the inner and outer of the cut and ground everything smooth with a 80 grit flap disc. The rear radius at the sprocket was cut with the plasma by tracing around a metal coffee can that I had full of bolts. The very end was freehanded with the plasma. I used a hand file and a grinder to finesse the final shape. The entire project took half an hour.

When my little buddy got off the school bus, he noticed it right away! That's my boy!

My right bag was getting exhaust soot all over it, so I decided to extend the tip. I had already gutted some of the can many miles ago, and I had installed an aluminum end cap with screws. I took off the cap, and then I used a piece of 2" E.M.T. (electrical conduit) to attach to the can. I found a scrap piece with a 30 degree bend in it in a bonepile at work. I didn't have stainless filler wire or tri-mix gas for my MIG, so I had to use my TIG. Using pure argon, a .040, 2% ceriated tungsten, and 1/16", 308L stainless filler wire, I was able to weld the mild steel conduit to the stainless steel can.

I really have no idea of what I am doing when it comes to TIG, but I was able to manipulate the puddle and the heat to get good fusion without blowing through. I also TIGged the holes shut from the endcap I had installed. I originally tried a 1/16" tungsten, but it was too much heat. That's when I dropped down to .040 and set the machine at 30 amps.

No stack of dimes here. I need practice for that. The grinder once again makes it look like I know what I'm doing. A trip to AutoZone for a rattlecan of high heat ceramic paint, and we're back in business. You can see where I masked off the new work. It will look as grungy as the rest of the can in time.

Now I can officially say that I have used my TIG. The advantage of the TIG is being able to use straight argon on pretty much all metals whereas the MIG needs 3 different gases for mild steel, aluminum, or stainless.

My idea for a wheel vise for my home made lift includes this trailer jack that I had in my building. I was hoping to use it as-is, but it's too long and bulky for that. I will have to dissect it to make it do what I want it to do. That may have to wait. The simple little chock I have on the lift currently is actually working well, plus it allows me to turn the handlebars, which you have to do sometimes to get to different fasteners. A clamp won't allow that to happen.

I'm still saving my pennies for the JD Squared model 32. In time, grasshopper.

People rag on us KLRistas, but having that bike allows all these other things to happen. I do miss my V-Strom, but if I get good enough with fabrication, maybe I can pick up a nice, used one down the road. Only time will tell.

I need to look into the local CC and see if I can audit/'sit in' on some welding classes, as another member suggested in the other welding thread here. Otherwise it's 7-9 credit hours @ 158.25 per for a MIG cert. That adds up, and it's a lot of time...but then a lot of time and repetition under the guidance of instructors is not bad, either.

I should really work on my friend who builds bike frames...he works with steel, aluminum, ti, and carbon...scandium too. His time is limited though...he's not getting rich doing it, but it sure seems to keep him busy and he turns out some beautiful stuff.

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Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm a firm believer of that. Get the ball rolling and you will surprise yourself.

I find that making things, especially useful ones, is very theraputic. It's never too late to learn new things.

It's also pretty exciting to have new projects to work on. Plus, if using scrap, if you screw up, who cares? It was already scrap!

Ok, I've got my mig setup an have been practicing for a little while. It's been a ball, but I'm going to be moving to a workspace with wood floors. I was probably just going to protect the area around my bench with thin sheet steel, but does anyone have any tips for convenient fire protection covering that won't break the bank? As always, it's great to hear people's individual solutions.

Ok, I've got my mig setup an have been practicing for a little while. It's been a ball, but I'm going to be moving to a workspace with wood floors. I was probably just going to protect the area around my bench with thin sheet steel, but does anyone have any tips for convenient fire protection covering that won't break the bank? As always, it's great to hear people's individual solutions.

Ok, I've got my mig setup an have been practicing for a little while. It's been a ball, but I'm going to be moving to a workspace with wood floors. I was probably just going to protect the area around my bench with thin sheet steel, but does anyone have any tips for convenient fire protection covering that won't break the bank? As always, it's great to hear people's individual solutions.

Thanks

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move in. Insure it to the max. do some wrench'n. spill some oil,gasoline, anything else flamable you can think of. then do a lot of welding with total disreguard for where the sparks are going. hide the welding machine before the ins. adjuster gets there and let the ins. co. build you a new shop with a concrete floor............wood floors and welding is begging for disaster no matter how well protected you think the floor is.